Italian American Digest JT DIGEST Summer 2018 June First (1) | Page 24
I TALIAN A MERICAN D IGEST
PAGE 24
SUMMER 2018
Cuisine cont. from page 23
I TA L I A N
C ROSSWORD
P UZZLE
Across
1. One of the oldest buildings in the French Quarter is
home to this restaurant
2. This hotel is famous for its carousel bar and ghosts
4. Term describing Italian immigrants who returned
9. This Italian singer is known for Felicia no capicia
and his role in the Jungle Book
10. This Italian sport is still played regularly
11. This shop created the muffaletta
12. This bakery has been around for over 100 years
13. This is the Italian word for garlic and the name of a
popular CBD deli and bar
14. This Italian was one of the chief lieutenants for
Robert de La Salle
15. This outdoor space is adjacent to the AICC and
hosts many events including opera
16. The oldest statues in Jackson Square were named
after these
17. Former Italian Mardi Gras krewe
18. Most Italian immigrants to New Orleans came from
this island
19. The margherita pizza has the colors of the Italian
flag: it’s topped with tomato, mozzarella, and this herb
Down
1. The French Quarter was also known by this Italian
name
3. This national canning company was started in New
Orleans by the Uddo and Taormina families
5. This long, noodle was enjoyed by Lady and the
Tramp
6. This saint is celebrated in New Orleans on March 19
with elaborate altars
7. This man released the first commercial jazz single
with the Original Dixieland Jazz Band
8. This world-renowned Italian artist sculpted the
Monument to the Immigrant and the statue of St Pope
John Paul II
S TUMPED ? F IND THE ANSWERS BY READING ARTICLES IN THE D IGEST !
A N S W E R K E Y
led many of them to start businesses
in Louisiana.
Records show a dramatic increase
in Sicilian-owned grocery stores over
time. By 1920, there were 90 corner
stores in the French Quarter, and 70
were owned by Sicilians. Since many
stores originally catered to single
working men, it seems natural that
some would evolve into full-fledged
restaurants and bars.
One famous example is the Napo-
leon House, which was originally a
grocery store rented by the Impastato
family in 1914. They turned it into a
tavern in the 1920s, and soon it was
transformed into the restaurant we
know today. With the growing popu-
larity of dishes associated with Ital-
ians, it would follow that there would
be some crossover and melding of
cooking flavors.
The 1954 cookbook Louisiana
Cookery makes reference to some
influence that Italians had on Creole
cooking in Louisiana: “The Italians
made excellent sauces and improved
the gravy for meat and fish dishes. But
it seems that the Italians, believing in
their own style of cooking, refused to
be influenced by the French and the
Spanish.” Unfortunately, the book
includes no recipes for these sauces,
but does offer proof that the Sicilians
brought new flavors to the already
established cuisine of the city. In my
research, I’ve been looking at reci-
pes and menus in an effort to detect
the changes brought on by a massive
influx of immigrants to a city that al-
ready loved food and drink—and how
this new, thriving community that was
based on growing, importing, and sell-
ing food changed, however slightly,
the cuisine of New Orleans.
Contessa cont. from page 13
The Albanians arriving in Sicily
were Orthodox Christians. By 1600,
under the Spanish rule, their parishes
had fallen under Roman Catholic
“uniate” jurisdiction, though